Larry Wilmore Blacklisted By CNN After Mocking Network?

*Mediaite said in an exclusive that CNN cancelled Larry Wilmore’sscheduled appearance on Don Lemon‘s nightly show in retaliation for his jokes about the network during the recent White House Correspondents’ Dinner. If you watched Wilmore’s White Correspondents Dinner speech last month, you can understand why CNN might not want to provide him with airtime. Larry and Lemon were set to discuss the speech, the “N-word” and politics – which would’ve been ratings gold.

During the dinner, Wilmore mocked CNN anchors Wolf Blitzer and Don Lemon as an “alleged” journalist. Although Lemon gave him a middle finger from the audience, he took the joke in good spirits and invited Wilmore to be on his 10 p.m. show the following Wednesday, May 4. According to a Mediaite source, a CNN executive cancelled the interview using some “breaking news” story as an excuse, and Larry’s segment was never rescheduled.

The Mediaite story doesn’t say that Wilmore was specifically blacklisted for his comments. The source merely deduced such is the case based on the actions that occurred.

Mediaite reported, “that Wilmore was scheduled to appear on Lemon’s show the evening of Wednesday, May 4, a few days after the speech. But that appearance was abruptly canceled by a CNN producer shortly beforehand under the guise of needing to cover ‘politics’ and to focus on the ‘Indiana primary’ (which had ended more than 24 hours earlier). Wilmore was never rescheduled.”

Larry has no regrets about using the n-word during the White House Correspondents’ dinner. In an interview with the Rev. Al Sharpton, the comedian said the move was fitting for President Obama’s last year in office.

Wilmore ended his speech at the dinner with, “Yo, Barry, you did it, my n–ga,” and it caused a backlash.

“You know, in any other year, I certainly wouldn’t have done it,” Wilmore told Sharpton.

“There was something about summing up where we’ve gone that kind of spoke to me,” he said. “And it’s hard, when you’re talking about artistic choices, what you would have done differently. Some people … said, ‘You could’ve said, “My brother.”’ Sure, I could’ve said that.”

Many people, including Sharpton, thought the joke was offensive, but the president did not.

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